Expedition: Herman Murrah Preserve, 9 June 2014

IBWOH's:  Richard Ezell, Brian Carlisle, Christopher Carlisle

Summary:  We began the hunt by meeting at the Dollar General store in McLain, MS, where we left two of our vehicles.  Taking Brian's Tundra, we headed south on Mississippi Highway 57, past the Leaf Wilderness which Brian and I had explored in May.  We passed the Nature Conservancy's Fisher and Murrah Preserves, and after some exploring around the Merrill Bridge near the Pascagoula headwaters (where I saw my first ever Northern Parula), we backtracked and parked at the locked gate at the Murrah, which is nearest the Pascagoula.  Our hope was to find some good timber nearer the river that might show signs of IBWO feeding activity, or perhaps even hear something encouraging.

Morning on the Merrill Bridge. 

View from the bridge.  The Pascagoula is about 20-30 yards to the left; some private property to the immediate right.

The Way is shut.  (To vehicle traffic.)

Beyond the gate, the single-lane vehicle track extends southward several miles, through some cutover land and a large swathe of mostly young hardwoods, which I imagined would be buzzing with warbler and vireo activity during Spring migration.  As it was, Brian spotted an American Redstart, which was doing some flycatching up in a small tree.  It was another species first for me to add to the Life List.  Eventually, thankfully, the road forked; and just off to the left, we found an old oxbow lake, surrounded by old cypress, gum, and tupelo.  There was an aluminum boat moored near a crude landing; and while Brian and Richard cut poles to get across the lake, I continued on through the mud around the southern end.  The trees, while not as big as Treebeard back in the Leaf Wilderness, were of impressive size and very, very beautiful.  No tree symbolizes the Southern wild to me more than the mighty cypress.

We met on the east side of the lake, and continued onward over a mile through some difficult terrain.  The woods between the lake and the River were older, and more favorable in my opinion to Ivory Bill and woodpeckers in general.  There were many dead and dying snags, in addition to downed timber that showed signs of woodpecker feeding activity.  There were many large sycamores in addition to the oaks, gums, cypress, and tupelo.  Nearer the River, the going got easier, and even pleasant, as swampy thickets gave way to open understory, thanks to enormous quantities of sand the River had dumped there during flood stages of years past.   We found a rat snake and at least one water moccasin; and it was in this area that we encountered a wild hog with at least three piglets, headed away from us with a grunt, towards the Pascagoula.

Dead snag showing signs of woodpecker feeding activity.

 Pascagoula River, looking south.

 Looking directly across from the "cut," or bend, towards a sand bar on the eastern bank.

 Looking north.  Merrill Bridge is somewhere beyond the bend.

Turning back west towards the lake, Richard discovered a dead cypress showing signs of woodpecker activity, and possible bark peeling.  Cypress is a very hard wood, even when dead for a while, and so only a very powerful beak could inflict this kind of damage, in my opinion; certainly, at least that of Dryocopus pileatus.

Marks near top left seem indicative of peeling.

The slog back was very hot and tiring.  We saw another redstart at one point.  Coming back upon the northern end of the lake, we found another boat, but returned to the original, and this time I crossed the lake with my companions.

Downed tree trunk showing woodpecker work, possibly after it fell. 

Dead sycamore showing woodpecker drilling, with a poison ivy vine as a bonus. 

We rudely awakened this fellow from his nap near the lake's north end.

 Ensign Carlisle navigates us towards the landing, coming in at .35.

Conclusions:  The most promising habitat for Ivory Bill was around the lake, and between the lake and the River.  The bulk of the Murrah Preserve looked too young to support IBWO feeding habits, and though I did note some woodpecker feeding activity on small dead snags in the younger woods, I suspect it was Dryocopus pileatus, which I have observed on more than one occasion working on small dead trees no bigger around than my arm, or smaller.  The Fisher Preserve, to the west of the Murrah, suggests it may be composed mainly of the same younger stands of hardwoods; I will reserve judgment until such time as I can investigate, but my gut feeling is that the larger timber lies to the east, closer to and along the Pascagoula.

The difficulty in any search for Campephilus principalis during the warmer months really hit home.  The heat and humidity were impossible to ignore, though under the deeper forest canopy and near the River, this was mitigated somewhat.  The worst of the insects were the biting flies, but I had no trouble at all from mosquitoes or ticks, or chiggers.  The presence of venomous snakes weighed on our minds constantly, and though we only spotted a couple of moccasins, I suspect there were three or four times as many that went undetected.  The leafy canopy prevented us from gaining many decent aerial views.  However, all that being said, I believe excursions such as this to be invaluable later in planning IBWO searches during the cooler months, when valuable time need not be wasted in scouting for suitable locales.  The IBWOH's and I will continue to do so, as we are able, during the summer months.